The present invention relates to electronic payment mechanisms in telecommunication networks, especially in mobile communications networks.
Electronic payment mechanisms will be used widely in the near future for making and receiving payments via telecommunication networks for different services, goods or information, for example. During a transaction, electronic substitutes for money, often called with the general name of electronic tokens, are exchanged between the parties. Digital cash, also called electronic money or electronic cash, is one form of electronic tokens that mainly resembles normal cash. However, electronic tokens may also have been designed as electronic analogues of other forms of payment, including cheques and credit from a bank or some other financial institution. These latter alternatives are designed for those who might prefer to pay on credit or through some other mechanism instead of cash.
In an electronic token system, tokens can be stored on a user""s card or in a computer and they can be exchanged directly between remote transacting parties. This exchange does not require a fixed network infrastructure and it can be accomplished through a temporary network connection, e.g. via mobile stations using wireless networks. Other electronic payment mechanisms have also been proposed that require on-line third-party payment servers to process transactions. They differ from electronic token systems in that they depend on a network infrastructure and require the on-line involvement of at least one additional party. Standards concerning electronic payment mechanisms are not yet ready, wherefore there are several competing methods on the market.
One of the most interesting ways of using electronic payment mechanisms, such as digital cash, is to provide a mobile station, such as a portable phone, with such a function. Due to the many competing methods, the actual problem is deciding which electronic payment mechanism should be included in the mobile station. Implementing an electronic payment mechanism in a mobile station takes time and creates considerable design and investment costs. Changing the payment mechanism or adding a new one requires new design and investments. Moreover, there would also be gradually different generations of mobile stations in use and they would require the mobile networks to provide different services. Therefore it would be very important to provide mobile stations with such an electronic payment mechanism that would satisfy the special needs of as many users as possible and that would not have to be changed at least within a reasonably long period. On the other hand, if a new electronic payment mechanism would be introduced to general use somewhere else, from the point of view of competition it would be very useful to have this mechanism in use in mobile stations as soon as possible. Therefore there are different problems and conflicting demands related to implementing an electronic payment service in a mobile system.
The same problems also apply to terminal equipments of other telecommunication networks.
An object of the invention is such an implementation of an electronic payment service in telecommunication systems, especially in a mobile system, that eliminates or at least alleviates the above-described problems.
This and the other objects and advantages of the invention are achieved with a system according to the invention for performing an electronic transaction between a terminal equipment in a telecommunication system and the other transacting party via a data network. The system is characterized in that it comprises a payment service gateway comprising a first payment protocol interface supporting a first electronic payment protocol for payment transactions with the terminal equipments, at least one other payment protocol interface that is connected to a data network and that supports the same or a different electronic payment protocol as said first electronic payment protocol interface for payment transactions with the other transacting party, and that the payment service gateway is arranged to perform the protocol adaptation of the payment transaction between the first and said at least one other payment protocol interface.
The invention also relates to a method for performing an electronic transaction between a mobile station in a mobile system and the other transacting party via a data network. The method is characterized by routing the payment transaction through the payment service gateway, using the same general electronic payment protocol in all payment transactions between the terminal equipment and the gateway regardless of the electronic payment protocol of said other party, using the electronic payment protocol of said other party in each payment transaction between the gateway and said other party.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, in order to allow the use of a terminal equipment of a telecommunication system, such as a mobile station, in association with any electronic payment service standard no matter which standard will be the actual de facto standard, one common payment mechanism is used in all the terminal equipments, and all the computer programs and mechanisms related to any specific payment mechanism are included in a service unit at the network side instead of implementing them in the terminal equipment itself. The service unit will be called a service gateway herein. The terminal equipment may comprise a generic payment interface towards the service gateway, which then acts on behalf of the mobile station towards the other transacting party by using the electronic payment method supported by the other party. In other words, from the point of view of the other transacting party the service gateway acting on behalf of the terminal equipment is similar to any customer using a specific payment mechanism. The service gateway may support several payment mechanisms (towards the other parties) that are available to the terminal equipments. The service gateway then carries out the conversion possibly required between the generic payment interface of the terminal equipment and the payment mechanism used in each case.
Due to the invention, only one common payment mechanism is needed in the terminal equipments and it does not have to be changed, at least not to a great extent, when new payment mechanisms are introduced into the market. Adding a new payment mechanism to a telecommunication system, such as a mobile system, requires changes only in the service gateway. Therefore the new payment mechanism is immediately available to all the generations of terminal equipments once it has been added to the telecommunication system. Further, by means of the invention it is possible to satisfy the different needs of almost all the users, since all the electronic payment mechanisms supported by the service gateway are available to a user.
The invention also relates to a system for performing an electronic transaction between a terminal equipment in a telecommunication system and the other transacting party. The system is characterized in that it comprises a payment service gateway comprising a first payment protocol interface supporting the first electronic payment protocol for payment transactions with said other party, at least one other payment protocol interface that is connected to the data network and that supports the same or a different electronic payment protocol as said first payment protocol interface for payment transactions with the terminal equipment, and that the payment service gateway is arranged to perform the protocol adaptation of the payment transactions between the first and said at least one other payment protocol interface.
The invention further relates to a method for performing an electronic transaction between a terminal equipment in a telecommunication system and the other transacting party. The method is characterized by routing the payment transaction via the payment service gateway, using the same general electronic payment protocol in all payment transactions between the other party and the gateway regardless of the electronic payment protocol of the terminal equipment, using the electronic payment protocol of the terminal equipment in each payment transaction between the gateway and the terminal equipment.
A service gateway according to a second embodiment of the invention provides terminal equipments with different payment mechanisms that are adapted in the service gateway with one common electronic payment mechanism. This embodiment makes it possible for terminal equipments supporting different payment services, for example different generations of terminal equipments, to use one common payment mechanism in the same network or in different networks. Changes in the common payment mechanism or in a payment mechanism supported by a terminal equipment require modifications only in the service gateway according to the invention and they do not affect the other payment mechanisms or terminal equipments.
The invention also relates to equipments according to claims 10, 11 and 12.